Shadow of the Shade
by Luke333
Summary: Patrick Hegemon was a normal person. That is, until he woke up transformed into The Shade, one of the most powerful superheros on the planet.


His name was Patrick Hegemon. It isn't anymore. He used to be a security guard. He isn't anymore. He used to be alive. Sadly, he isn't that anymore either.

Shadow

Of The

§Shade§

Chapter 1- The Beggining

Patrick Hegemon was bored. You would be bored also if you had to guard a toxic waste facility night after night. "Who in their right mind would wanna steal toxic waste" Patrick constantly said to his boss. And he was right. His boss knew it also, he just wouldn't admit it. Maybe that was why Patrick had never been given a gun, or maybe it was the fact that even though he was only 25, he has had shaking hands and always moving eyes. He had a scar above one eye from when he was little, and a burn scar on his right arm, always showing because all he ever wore was tank tops, showing off his skinny arms. Night after night he sat in his chair and watched the only door in the place. It never budged. That was probably a good thing, because at 5 ft 9 and weighing just over 155 lbs, the skinny flaming-red haired Patrick would most likely be no match for any robber. Tonight, with the moon shining in, and the crickets chirping, it was just too much for him. Despite the fact that he slept during the day, and despite the fact he had never fallen asleep on his shift, his head rolled, his eyes closed, and before you could blink, Patrick Hegemon was asleep and snoring quietly, like a dog growling for a bone.

Patrick was awoken by the steady dripping of water. It was coming from the direction of the door, and Patrick was startled to see that the door was standing open. The steady "Drip, Drip" was coming in from there, and it was sprinkling outside. Patrick got up to close it, and as it creaked close, he saw wet footprints lading away from it. He followed them o the middle of the room where they just seemed to stop. Puzzled, Patrick went back to his seat and vowed not fall asleep again. He was just sitting, doing nothing, when he heard it. A raspy breathing coming from the direction of the sewage vat. It was going quite slowly, slower then any breath that Patrick had ever heard, yet it wasn't in a bad way. Patrick started to get up, but he couldn't move his legs. He was about to yell, when he realized he couldn't open his mouth either. He was completely paralyzed. Then the person stepped out from behind the sewage vat.

The man standing before Patrick was old. Really old! He was very short and wrinkled, with graying skin and ear hair. He looked a little like the Star Wars character Yoda, but a little taller and without the green skin. He looked wise, but with old people you could never tell, and when he opened his mouth to speak, his words came out in raspy gasps. "You have…. Cough… been chosen…. And will forever… be bounded... to the cape…cough cough…. Until the day…Cough…you die."

With that, the man pointed to a black cape hanging unnaturally in the air, and went back to his hiding spot behind the vat. Patrick's body relaxed, but then he heard a creaking and a crash and the vat of toxic waste was tipping over, and tons of the stuff was flying at Patrick. Patrick was about to scream when the black cape flew over his body and lifted him in the air. The last Patrick remembered about that fateful night was looking down from the air, with wind whistling against his face, and then without warning blacked out.

Chapter 2 – Realizing

Waking up after you have blacked out is never a pleasant experience. Very often you can't remember what happened. You have a pounding headache and a feeling in your stomach that you are going to throw up. Surprisingly, Patrick wasn't experiencing any of these symptoms. He was sitting on a rafter at the top of the toxic waste facility. Somehow, the cape had been put on him, and it felt good. Very powerful, like he could do anything. Jumping from the rafters, he landed on his feet, and if that wasn't amazing enough for him, it had seemed like he had slowed down at the very end, like he was gliding. Looking into the cracked mirror on the wall behind him, he saw someone else standing there.

He whipped around, but no one was there. The person was wearing a cape, like he was, but it was definitely not him. It couldn't be. This man in the mirror was at least 6'5 and muscular. He weighed at least 250 lbs and it was all out of muscle. He had grayish skin, with a hint of green in his red hair, and the scars on his arm and above his eye were gone. It was just too weird.

Patrick ran his hand through his hair. So did the man in the mirror. Patrick flexed. So did the man in the mirror. Patrick jumped, and as the man in the mirror did also, Patrick didn't stop on his way up. He just went up and up and up. He was flying!

He swept through the rafters, up, down, around, everywhere. He went into a loop the loop, and as he came out of it he wondered why he was flying. Then he realized. It wasn't him. It was the suit. The cape, the dark green pants, the black shirt with the glowing emerald green S, the…. Wait a sec? Patrick looked back at his shirt, and sure enough there was an S there. Patrick's breath caught in his throat. There was only one person he knew that could have that kind of symbol. He was the Shade.

This surprised Patrick because The Shade was one of the most powerful heroes ever. He has almost limitless powers, and heads a super-hero team called The Omegas. "But why pick me," Patrick wondered aloud as he floated down to the ground.

As he was pondering this question, he heard a car door slam. Having still not perfected the art of flying, Patrick chose to look through a crack in the door. Waddling toward him on his skinny legs that looked as though they could barely support his body weight was his boss, all fat and no muscle, with a temper like a lion and the hair to match. He waddled his way to the door and knocked. "Patrick let me in! Open the dang door," he yelled through the door. Patrick looked around for a way out. The back door always stuck, and his boss was standing in front of the front door. It looked like this could be trouble for The Shade.

Thinking hard and fast, Patrick remembered reading a newspaper article a few days ago about the Shades powers. The second one on the list was intangibility. He looked at the wall, and mustering his bravery, walked straight through the wall thinking to himself, "Don't crash, don't crash, don't crash."

And he didn't. He walked straight through the wall, through the grass, and then started running. Looking back he saw his boss's car, and remembering how mean his boss had always been to him, decided to take it for a spin. He ran back, invisible (another of the shade's powers) and instead of getting in the car, crawled under it and lifted. He felt the car go up, and recalling how he could never in a million years do this while he was still wimpy Patrick, smiled to him-self. He leapt into the air, and started to fly. He saw his boss's fat stomach appear through the open door before his head came through, and his boss stepped out into the now risen sunlight. Squinting his beady eyes, his boss saw his car floating in the air, but since Patrick was invisible, he didn't see him. Yelling, "Stop, come back," his boss ran at his car, his fat jiggling as he did.

He reached where the car was hovering, and jumped, but since he was so squat and short, he couldn't reach. There was a moment when Patrick considered dropping the car, and crushing his boss, but the moment passed when he realized that now he was a super-hero, he had to be good. Patrick held the car in one hand, reared back, and let fly. The car sailed through the air before lodging itself in a tree a good 100 feet away. The last words he heard before sailing away through the air was his boss moaning and groaning, "Whyyyyy? Oh Whyyyy."

Patrick glimpsed a look back as he flew away and was filled with a deep satisfaction of a job well done when he saw his boss pounding the ground with his flabby fists. Then he flew off into the rising sun.

Chapter 3

Patrick flew along, humming to himself, and marveling over the events of the past night. So far he had almost been killed, been turned into a super-hero, and thrown his boss's car into a tree. As he passed over a high-way, he saw a blue streak go passing by. And it was going fast.

Swooping down, Patrick saw it was a woman, running at super-human speeds. He stepped in front of her, and as she ran towards him yelled "Stop."

But she didn't stop. She kept coming toward him and Patrick braced himself for the impact. But it never came. Opening his eyes he saw the lady had passed right through him. He now recognized her. It was the Blur, another super-hero, or in this case heroin, from the Omegas. He stared at him and she stared back until she said, "Show me what you got," and started toward him again.

He stayed where he was, expecting her to do the same trick, but this time the impact did come. And it came hard! Patrick was thrown off his feet and landed on his back. Seeing her coming for another blow, he quickly and nimbly rolled away and stuck at his foot. She tripped over it, and went sailing onto a passing truck. A dent appeared in the truck and Patrick allowed himself a smile until he saw her getting up. She looked at him and started speaking into the collar of her suit. He couldn't make out what she was saying but it looked like, "He's good. Come (something). I (something) backup.

The next thing Patrick new, people were popping up o his left and right. He got ready for another fight, but when he saw who the people were, he lowered his fists. He knew it wouldn't help around these guys. This is who he saw.

Alpha 4 - Can grow and shrink to almost any size. He got his abilities when exposed to the suns rays at close range. Is the joker of the Omegas and always likes to keep a good atmosphere.

The Blur - Can run at super sonic speeds. She used to be a Marathon runner, until he broke his legs in a fall. After that, she worked day and night until he built the fastest bionic legs ever. Then she dipped them in liquid nitrogen. That was what did the trick. She is also the only girl on the team for the time being.

Metallica Man (MM) - Can become any type of metal he wants, and form his body to anything. Used to work for a mining company, but when he was crushed in a land slide, the rock fused with his bones and he became MM.

The Dark Phoenix (DP) – As part alien, part beast, part cyborg, this super hero has always been the co-leader of the Omegas. He has the powers to draw life force energy from those around him and create magic from it. He can also form his arms into weapons and breathe in outer space.

Power Plug – Plug has always been a power person. He used to own

his own electric company, and one day when fixing a power line, he was electrocuted and left for dead. When he came to, he was glowing blue, and now he has the powers of a human lightning bolt. He can also summon lightning from the sky, and can give you a tiny zap, or electrocute or even kill.

Plea Lifter (PL) – Plea is also an alien, but all alien, unlike DP. He has the ability to see things in his mind and make them appear in real life. He is the most serious of the group, probably because of what happened to his planet when he was little, but what that is he won't tell anyone.

Shade – If you don't know who the Shade is, go back and read from the beginning. If you still don't know then, then you are an incredibly stupid person. The extent of the Shades powers, well, there is none. He can do anything, he wants, and has been the leader of the Omegas for as long as anyone can remember, and even though the other members have changed over the years, the Shade has always remained.


End file.
